-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Twenty-five people were discharged from hospital Friday , state media reported , a week after a meteor exploded in spectacular fashion in the skies above Russia 's Urals region , shattering glass in thousands of buildings .

Eleven children were among the patients who went home Friday morning , the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported . More than 60 people were hospitalized across the region , the local emergencies ministry said .

The total count for those hurt climbed in the days after the meteor 's arrival on February 15 to more than 1,500 , according to RIA Novosti . Most of the injuries were minor and caused by flying glass .

The Chelyabinsk region , the hardest-hit area , asked federal authorities Monday for $ 16.6 million in aid , RIA Novosti said .

Russian scientists track down fragments of Urals meteor

The total bill for the damage is estimated at 1 billion rubles -LRB- $ 33 million -RRB- , with more than 4,000 buildings affected , many of them apartment blocks . About 200,000 square meters -LRB- almost 240,000 square yards -RRB- of glass were broken in total , authorities said .

Meanwhile , the first fragment of meteorite arrived in Moscow on Friday for analysis , RIA Novosti reported .

About 50 small fragments have been found so far , the news agency reported earlier this week , some in a crater in the Chelyabinsk region 's Lake Chebarkul .

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Images taken soon after the meteor blast showed a hole in the ice covering the lake where a chunk of meteorite was believed to have fallen .

Because the meteor exploded in a huge fireball in the atmosphere , the fragments could be scattered over a huge area .

A couple of purported pieces of Chelyabinsk meteorite were advertised for sale on the eBay online auction site Friday .

The national space agency , Roscosmos , said scientists believe one meteoroid entered the atmosphere , where it burned and disintegrated into fragments . Amateur video footage showed a bright white streak moving rapidly across the sky before exploding with an even brighter flash and a deafening bang .

According to NASA estimates , the meteor measured 55 feet -LRB- 17 meters -RRB- across and had a mass of 10,000 tons .

CNN iReport : Meteor in the sky over Chelyabinsk

The space agency put the amount of energy released in the meteor 's explosion at nearly 500 kilotons . By comparison , the nuclear bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 released an estimated 15 kilotons of energy .

The whole event , from the meteor 's atmospheric entry to its disintegration in the air above central Russia , took 32.5 seconds , NASA said .

Residents told CNN of their shock as they saw , heard and felt the awesome blast , and the chaos and confusion they witnessed in the moments afterward , when no one knew what had happened .

Denis Kuznetsov , a 23-year-old historian from Chelyabinsk , told CNN via e-mail of his experience .

At first there was a blinding flash lasting several seconds , which made him want to shut his eyes . The light shone `` like 10 suns , '' he said . `` This is no exaggeration . ''

Kuznetsov said he experienced what felt like `` a push , '' as a sound wave passed through his body . `` For some seconds I simply stood , '' he said , amid the sound of breaking glass .

Interior Minister Vladimir Puchkov told state news agency Itar-Tass this week that he wanted to see scientists develop new technologies that would allow such meteors to be spotted in advance .

`` I believe that this emergency situation will push us towards generating new resources , approaches and ideas in tackling this serious problem , '' he is quoted as saying .

The European Space Agency said that events of the magnitude of the Chelyabinsk meteor blast `` are expected once every several of tens to 100 years . ''

It calculates that the meteoroid burst and disintegrated about 15 to 20 kilometers -LRB- nine to 12 miles -RRB- above the ground .

`` The terminal part of the explosion probably likely occurred almost directly over Chelyabinsk , '' said Detlef Koschny , of the European Space Agency . `` This was perhaps the single greatest contributor to the blast damage . ''

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Local officials say 25 people injured by the blast were discharged from hospital Friday

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The total number injured , most by flying glass , was more than 1,500 , state media reports

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State media : A fragment of the meteorite arrives in Moscow for scientific analysis

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European Space Agency believes blast occurred almost directly over Chelyabinsk